Donalda Club

Overview: Donalda is an 18-hole parkland course in North York that feels much farther from Toronto's city grid than its address suggests. Golf Canada lists the course at par 71 and 6,701 yards, while the club describes a route through a plunging valley with a meandering river at its core. The combination of wooded corridors, changing elevation and water creates a layout that is challenging where it needs to be but still playable when the player chooses sensible lines. Its Audubon-certified setting reinforces the sense of a natural refuge in the middle of the metropolitan area.

History: Donalda's club story reaches back to the Dunlap farm, a large property acquired by David Dunlap in 1916. The club dates its doors to 1960, and the first nine holes entered play in 1961. Jimmie Johnstone created the original course, while Thomas McBroom led a major redesign in 1994. McBroom later rebuilt the greens to USGA specifications, and the course reopened in 2014 with 20 new putting surfaces including practice greens.

Did You Know? The name Donalda came from David Dunlap's wife, whose middle name was used for the farm and later the club. That small detail connects the modern course to the agricultural estate that occupied the Don Valley before the property became a golf and country club.